Sophomore spark

FORT RECOVERY — A spark is all it takes sometimes. It may come in the way of a block or a kill to swing momentum one way or the other.

It may also build up over time, and then become too much for the opposite team.

The Indians experienced both in their final conference and regular season home match of the year.

Whitley Rammel provided the spark by stopping a Tiger attack before slamming home the set-winning kill, and momentum slowly transformed from a slow kindle into a blaze for the Fort Recovery High School volleyball team in a 19-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-16 victory against the Versailles Tigers on Thursday night at Fort Site Fieldhouse.

“It didn't come easy,” said FRHS coach Chelsea Kahlig, whose Division IV No. 6 Indians move to 17-5 (6-3 Midwest Athletic Conference) and opens sectional play in one week at home. “Even at the beginning of the second set we had to gradually grab momentum. The only way we knew we could do that was serving aggressive and getting them off the net a little bit, making their setters scramble.

“That's exactly what happened toward the end; we flustered them serving wise and they were running all over the place.”

Brooke Kahlig, one of four seniors who played her last career regular season match at home, said she never felt her teammates were fully on the ropes.

“I felt confident in what we were going to do,” she said. “And (Whitley) Rammel was on fire.”

Rammel, who is just a sophomore, finished with 12 kills and 10 blocks. One of each ended the second set and provided the lift the Indians needed. She recorded four kills in the third set and three in the fourth.

“Gave us quite the spark,” Chelsea Kahlig said. “She had really all year long. For being a sophomore she plays with a lot of energy. She is a big pick-me-up for the rest of this team.”

After evening the match at one set each, Fort Recovery opened an 18-12 lead in the third after it was tied six times in the first 18 points. Versailles (9-10, 2-6 MAC) trimmed the margin in half thanks to kills by Clare Rethman and Kirsten Bomholt. The later tied it at 24-apiece but Paige Jutte recorded one of her four blocks to give the Indians a 25-24 advantage and the Tigers failed to get the ensuing Paige Fortkamp serve over the net.

Fortkamp had a team-high 14 kills, and Jutte — another senior — had eight. Classmate Olivia Patch finished with seven kills and matched Jutte's four blocks.

Early on in the fourth set the Tigers gave up four of the first five points but rebounded to pull within one on three separate occasions. Fort Recovery, leading 9-8, pulled away on a service error, a set error and a kill and block from Rammel to make it 13-8. Versailles never recovered and the Indians snapped their three-match losing streak to conference opponents.

“They played really well, which we expected,” the Tribe coach said of Versailles. “they were big and they got a lot of touches on a lot of our attacks.

“I thought tonight, they kind of came back, but I don't know, I guess we answered when we really needed to.”